Oakland advice -- furnished lower rent?

[Carrie K.]

Is anyone crushing it in 30+-day furnished professional listings (e.g., travel nurses) especially in the Bay Area, who could give me some advice? Or has anyone seen furnished places go for less than unfurnished before? 

I recently furnished a 3 BR. This is a high cost of living area, and in the neighborhood right now, I see a 3 BR of worse finish quality listed for $3k and a 4 BR that's about equal for $3900, both unfurnished with long term leases. (There are also fancy lofts for much more per bedroom.)

I just heard from someone who is looking at my furnished listing that they'd like to pay $950/bedroom and think that's justified based on the other places they're seeing. I really appreciate this kind of feedback and am likely to cut a deal with them to get it rented. But, it is a bummer because I just spent $$$ on furniture, bedding, and all of the many incidentals. Also, I've added about $250 to my monthly costs to cover utilities.

Looking on Furnished Finder, I do see plenty of places in my approximate price range, so I thought my target (average of $1100/room) was competitive and reasonable. Looking on AirBnB, $1150 for a tiny place was the absolute cheapest comp I could find nearby, and the next was around $1250/month (after Air BnB fees). But looking on Craigslist, I am now actually seeing a couple of small and non-fancy furnished rooms for $950.

In the near term, I'm happy to cut a deal just to get it rented for a couple months. But as I think about my long term plans, between the higher vacancy rate, the added monthly expenses, and all of the correspondence with potential renters, I'm strongly considering UN-furnishing it and going back to a long term rental. Has anyone else run into anything equivalent?

Thanks! I *thought* I'd done my market research, but I clearly have more to learn!